Kate Papierniak, Autistic-affirming Counsellor

I’m a late-identified autistic counsellor offering Telehealth across Australia. My practice supports autistic adults, people navigating loss, memory, and life transitions, and professionals affected by vicarious trauma.

I came to counselling after more than thirty years as a materials conservator. Conservation is the discipline of caring for what has survived. It taught me to value every mark as a record. The work is to stabilise what is already there, find meaning and to reframe what’s been misread.

I notice patterns quickly, name what I’m seeing directly, and help reframe responses that have been misunderstood, including by clients themselves. What’s adaptive about a person’s responses, even those that now cause distress, was once protective. Therapy becomes about understanding, reframing, and creating conditions for what genuinely wants to flourish.

Decades of working with personal accounts of loss, including war records, also gave me first-hand understanding of vicarious trauma. This informs how I work with professionals carrying the weight of their roles.

My approach is person-centred, trauma-informed, and polyvagal-informed. I integrate breathwork, gentle movement, and mindfulness. I adapt to what each person needs rather than following rigid protocols. I’m mindful of sensory differences and don’t require eye contact. Direct language and written communication preferences are welcome here.

As a Polish-born migrant and autistic adult living with Complex PTSD, I bring lived experience of intergenerational trauma and understand how migration, autism, and trauma can intersect.

I work with privately funded clients and self-managed and plan-managed NDIS participants. ACA registered counsellor.